Coast Guard cutter reaches disabled fishing vessel

HONOLULU - Two crew members from a disabled Taiwanese fishing vessel 900 miles southwest of Honolulu are being treated by corpsmen aboard a U.S. Coast Guard cutter.

Officials said Tuesday that the Alex Haley was en route to Christmas Island in the Republic of Kiribati, where the two will be medically evacuated.

The cutter, home-ported in Kodiak, Alaska, reached the Hou Chun 11 early Tuesday, the day after a Coast Guard search plane located the vessel and its 28 crew members who had fled to the safety of two life rafts after it caught fire.